National Security Adviser Convenes Forum on Cybersecurity

National Seurity Adviser, Sambo Dasuki

Concerned with cybersecurity in Nigeria, critical stakeholders will gather at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island Lagos on June 18 and 19 to suggest input into the country’s policy framework on cybersecurity.
During the conference, being planned by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), participants will also build a national consensus on National Cybersecurity Roadmap and also facilitate a unified e-security foundation for Digital Nigeria through a coordinated effort.
ONSA is organising the conference in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Federal Ministry of Justice, Central Bank of Nigeria, Economic & Financial Crimes Commission, Nigerian Communications Commission, National Information Technology Development Agency, Nigerian Communications Satellite and Galaxy Backbone.
Specifically, the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, will attempt to secure the cooperation, understanding and the support of other critical government agencies and stakeholders, which will help to prevent disjointed policy document, as well as achieving a coherent and all-inclusive Strategy in which all other similar cybersecurity undertaken in the country will be infused into the overall framework of the National Cybersecurity Policy.
It will also ensure a far reaching inclusion of stakeholder’s critical views, addressing areas of strategic concerns, and laying a foundation for trusted relationship between the public and organized private sector on cybersecurity.
With these, a national consensus would have been built towards the acceptance and the adoption of the policy and strategy documents, which aims to facilitate a trusted relationship required for effective implementation and partnership on cybersecurity in the country.
Chairman of Etisalat Nigeria, Hakeem Belo-Osagie, will chair the forum, while the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, will lead other dignitaries to declare the Forum open.
The event will afford ONSA, which has been on the forefront of ensuring all-inclusive legislative discourse on cybercrime bill to bridge advocacy gap on cybersecurity while enhancing public-private partnership and multi-stakeholder engagement towards successful implementation of these strategic documents.
ONSA has already established a state-of–the-art National Digital Forensic Laboratory ready for commissioning, while the setting up process of the Nigerian National CERT (ngCERT) is at an advance stage. The ngCERT is expected to become operational by the third quarter of this year.
Expected at the forum are captains of Industry & Corporate decision makers, civil society organisations, press and media industry, academia, law makers, lawyers and state governments.
Others include Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Federal Ministry of Information, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria Communication Satellite (NigComsat), Galaxy backbone, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), National Space Research & Development Agency, Nigeria Police Headquarters, Federal Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Trade & Investment, Defence Headquarters, Federal Ministry of Education, National Orientation Agency, Economic & Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), State Security Service (SSS) and Ministry of Youth Development.

Adekunle Karounwi
Special Assistant Media and Publicity (ONSA)
May 25, 2014